Engraved on an Ivory Necklace
by Felinis
Summary: The cram school is tense after discovering Rin is the son of Satan. New students have arrived two half demons by the names of Berry and Krei Zi. Both contain dark secrets and motives. But, a new threat is looming in that is going to unsettle even Gehenna. And what is the mystery behind why Mephisto scouted them out. An adventure, a romance, and crazy mishaps await inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Lamoon: Hello folks. This time I writes with my good friend Moose. She doesn't post on fanfic, but she does on Quotev. Say hi Moose. **

**Moose: I worship the almighty corndog!**

**Lamoon: And you thought I was the weird one. So this is a joint effort between Moose and I. This is the story that the OCs from Slave to Assiah come from originally. **

**Moose: Yeah so you're reading the originally Berry that isn't a rebel army leader. Anyway we don't own Blue Exorcist. **

It had been at most a week since Rin's identity as the son of Satan was revealed. The event had created much tension among the cram students. Especially after the incident with Konekomaru. That day in the cram school though was very different. Today someone would be joining them. Someone who would eventually become of great importance. An argument broke out once again between the two rivals Rin and Ryuji when suddenly the door burst open with a loud bang causing everyone to stand still.

"Does anyone have ketchup for this banana?" a girl with bright red hair exclaimed holding a banana. Everyone gave a deadpan look to this statement, "All right then just asking. No need to look so offended. I'll go find my own." At this the girl slammed the door shut leaving everyone to stare.

"What the hell was that?" Ryuji stated breaking the silence. Rin shrugged in response everyone was equally confused by this.

Yukio walked into the classroom with a smile minutes later, "Everyone we have some new students joining us today, "Yukio said gesturing to the girl standing in the doorway to come in. "I'd like you all to meet Krei Zi."

Krei stood in front of the others a bit nervous. She then noticed how her red-headed relative had run off. This did not bode well in Krei's eyes. Krei thought over in her head what her cousin was likely doing and came to the conclusion that when Berry (her cousin) entered this class she'd have caused at least five hundred dollars in property damage. For some reason she also couldn't shake off the idea that the damaged item was a stove. Hopefully that would get the two kicked out. Krei did _not _want to be here. But for some reason Berry had insisted since an incident a few days ago.

_Last week _

It had been a normal day for the two. By normal they meant Berry was running about like a maniac and Krei was desperately trying to calm her down. "Berry for the love of god, take your medicine," Krei yelled as she chased her cousin through the rain. The annoying thing about giving Berry her ADHD medicine was that if she wanted to Berry could outrun a fighter jet making it nearly impossible to capture her and force the pill down her cousin's throat.

"I don't wanna!" Berry shouted at the top of her lungs as she ran. But, while she was running Berry caught in the corner of her eye something of interest. As she skidded to a halt in front of man with a playful umbrella and a festive outfit. What captivated her though wasn't the person, but the top hat on top of his head.

"Hello," the man said slyly his tone and disposition was enough for her to think he was a demon.

"Nice hat. Can I have it?" Berry stated and attempted to snatch his hat.

"You wouldn't happen to be the half-demon Ichigo?" the man asked completely ignoring Berry's question.

"So what if I am (I'm 3/4 demon by the way)? I'm still going to take your hat," Berry said as she eyed the hat with wide saucer eyes.

"How would you like to be an exorcist? I'll make it worth your while," the man proposed.

Berry wanted to laugh at the man. Who ever heard of a demon becoming an exorcist? "No way," she stated bluntly and began to walk away.

The man thought for a second, "If you become an exorcist I will give you my hat and-"

"Deal!" Berry interrupted before the demon could finish. "That hat will be mine!" The man merely walked off chuckling thinking of how fun this would be.

Krei finally caught up to Berry. She was completely exhausted and managed to wheeze, "Will you please take your medicine before I cough up a lung?"

Berry took the pills and gave a sly grin, "We should become exorcist!" Leaving her cousin to wonder about Berry's sudden interest.

_Present_

The whole class stared analogizing the girl. She had long fine dark purple hair and sweet yet piercing honey eyes. She was wearing a denim jacket, a black shirt, blue jeans, cream sandals, and an ivory necklace with kanji carved in as well as outlined in black on its surface. Krei knew she didn't look her best today and that she wasn't wearing the school uniform. They must have thought she looked weird. They also must have been freaked by her height. Last she checked she was 5' 10 and still growing. Not exactly a normal height for a girl (height was one of the things she was most sensitive about). She could tell by looking that she was taller than everyone except one boy with brown and blonde hair and the teacher. "My name is Krei Zi, but please call me Krei. I'm happy to be here," Krei said nervously with a bow (was that the right gesture?). Having grown up in America Krei was unfamiliar with certain customs. Shyly, she took a seat in the corner and eyed the black haired boy sitting up front. He was cute. Really cute. She especially liked his pointed ears.

"Where's the other girl?" Yukio asked as he looked down the hall for his other new student. Suddenly he spotted Mephisto walking down the hall carry someone over his shoulder shouting nonsense.

The principal entered the classroom with the screaming person on his shoulder and then held the red-headed girl by her scruff a few inches off the ground. "I found _this _looking for ketchup in my office and while trying to catch her she destroyed the stove in the cafeteria," he stated. The purple haired man turned to Krei and before he speak she stated;

"I'll pay for the five hundred dollars in property damage."

The demon was impressed that the girl actually knew the exact total in damage. "Well make sure this _thing _doesn't cause any more trouble." At that statement he dropped Berry onto the ground.

"One of these days I'll put ice-cream in your boots and then steal your hat," Berry muttered as she got up.

"Yes, yes, go publish that," Mephisto huffed. The class finally got a chance to take a closer look at the girl. Her strawberry hair was tied into two long ponytails with blue ribbons, with rosy pink eyes, she wore a yellow plaid skirt, a multicolored belt adorned with cute little charms that hanged on her hip, licorice striped boots, a robin's egg blue T-shirt, and a shiny red jacket. Overall she didn't look normal. No she looked like she had just grabbed whatever clothing she could find in her closet and decided to slap that on. Also she was short. Really short. In fact if she was only 4' 11' (and still shrinking). Meaning that a girl that barely went up to Mephisto's shoulders on her tippy toes was making death threats. Well sort of.

Taking notice of the class Berry decided to give a proper greeting, "Hi I'm Ichigo, but everyone calls me Berry. Meaning if you call me Ichigo I will hunt you down and destroy you." At this she took a seat next to Krei.

The class looked at the girl who was currently eating a banana peel. Berry simply ignored the stares. "From this point on these two will be joining you as Exwires. So treat them as you would any other person in this room," Yukio stared knowing that the girls would probably be fine, but better safe than sorry.

As class continued on Rin kept glancing at the new students. Something about them was weird and it wasn't that the red-head was eating a banana peel. No, that wasn't it. The two had an aura about them that was different from the others. It felt almost inhuman, but the two didn't look like demons.

As the class continued on Krei wanted more and more to get out of the class. Exorcism was not for her and she didn't know anything about versus from scriptures or what plants work best for what. After today she should just convince Berry to drop out. During gym class Krei was approached by the other students. It was then she finally noticed that the raven haired boy had a black fuzzy tail. He was a half-demon? But, he seemed so human. Was he forced here like me?

"So Krei what made you decide to join the cram school?" a girl in a kimono asked.

"I'm just here to keep an eye on Berry. She's prone to trouble, but she's a good person," Krei answered.

"Oh, I see! So are you sisters?" the girl in the kimono continued.

"No cousins. I only met Berry after I moved here from America," Krei stated.

"You're from America! That means you can speak English!" the black haired boy exclaimed and i gave a timid nod. "Cool! Say something in English!"

Krei timidly spoke in English, "_Hello, it is nice to meet you. My name is Krei Zi and I'm from America."_ The two stared in awe at Krei making her embarrassed.

"Say something else," the boy cheered.

_"Umm, I like animals," _Krei stuttered and the boy cheered. Meanwhile her cousin was making impressions elsewhere.

Berry stood in front of the giant frog demon. This would be either her greatest stunt yet... or her stupidest. Probably her stupidest. "Here froggy thingy, want a nice corndog," Berry cooed as she waved a corndog in front of the demon frog's face. The creature eyed the food item and took it into his mouth. Berry then proceeded to climb on the frog's back and broke the chain tying it down. She somehow managed to position herself on the frog's bare back. "All right mister frog let's annoy that mean old demon," Berry began to ride the frog around the ring and prepared to attack. Hopefully she wouldn't fall off.

"Hey, the crazy girl is riding on the Leaper," the pink haired boy shouted as Berry tried to steer the Leaper up the wall.

At that moment Krei prayed that the crazy girl was not Berry. But, when she looked she was met with cruel truth. At this moment Krei wasn't sure whether she should be seething with anger or utterly embarrassed. She decided that she'd she both, "I'd like to apologize for my cousin's behavior I'll go down there this instant and bring her back." On that note Krei descendant into the pit followed by Rin.

"Stupid frog! Why won't you do what I tell you to?" Berry shouted as the Leaper tried to fling her off.

"Berry I'm really disappointed with you. I thought at the very least you'd behave the first day," a calm and collected voice said from behind her. She turned behind and saw Krei smiling sweetly. You see Krei didn't get mad. No, Krei became incredibly calm and sweet. Which was worse. "Hopefully, this gets us kicked out."

"Run froggy thingy, Run!" Berry squealed as she prodded the Leaper to move quickly only the demon was frozen in fear. Seeing this, Berry decided running was her best option only she couldn't run, because a hand was pressing on her shoulder.

"Now, now, expelling you for a simple prank would be silly. I think I'll just give Berry a special punishment," a new voice chimed. Berry knew that voice. It was the voice of all evil. It was _Mephisto._

"I regret nothing!" Berry yelled as she slipped out and ran away at the speed of sound being followed by Mephisto who merely walked after her.

"Oh, dear Berry ran off. I guess I'll just go back up," Krei sighed still smiling.

Rin stood there a bit confused by what happened, "You seem pretty calm," Rin stated looking at the calm and collected girl.

"Actually I'm seething and about to lose it," Krei said joyfully.

"Oh," was all he could think in response. _'How'd she run so fast?'_ Rin thought as he walked away, but glanced back at Krei who was petting the Leaper. "You shouldn't do that. Leaper's can be a bit dangerous so you should go up with me."

Krei looked at the boy having calmed down at last. She was annoyed by his statement, which was a very rare occurrence for her. She replied in snarky tone, "It's not like I'm causing any harm."

"Yeah, but you should go up anyway unless you want to get in trouble," he retorted and pulled her hand from the Leaper's face. "Besides it's a demon. Meaning: not exactly something you should be playing with."

"Well, I want to pet the frog," Krei huffed placing her hand back on the frog's face.

"Well, I say you can't," he said removing her hand. This continued back and forth for a few minutes till the black haired boy accidentally caused the string holding the girl's necklace to snap. Krei's face contorted into a look of disgust. How dare he do that!

"Jerk!" Krei shouted as she flung the boy into the wall in annoyance with enough strength to crack the surface of the concrete. Just to get the last laugh she also patted the Leaper on the head and stuck out her tongue before climbing up the ladder.

Meanwhile in Mexico ***Cue the mariachi band***

Berry laughed maniacally as she hid under the table from Mephisto. "Hehehe, he'll never find me here," she grinned marveling in her brilliance.

"Oh my, what do we have here?" a dark and sadistic voice said from above. "A little bug thought it could hide from me. I would almost consider that adorable if it wasn't for the fact that it's overshadowed by its stupidity."

Screams could be heard as Berry was dragged off to receive her punishment. At that moment she was being dragged into the gates of Gehenna.

Back with our other protagonists

"Did you have to throw me into the wall?" Rin said to the new girl. Obviously, he could see now the two were half-demons like himself.

"I'm sorry, normally I have more control," she muttered, "I just wanted to pet the frog since it was cute."

Did all she want was pet a cute animal? Rin chuckled looking at Krei who looked a bit sad. "Listen, I have a pet cat you can play with whenever so don't cause trouble."

Krei's eyes lit up at this statement, "I promise, but Berry is another story." After cram school Krei followed Rin in hopes that she'd get to see his cat the two instead ended up being stopped by the sight of Berry hanging upside-down on a pole the whole time giving a pouty face and keeping her arms crossed. "Berry why are you upside-down?"

"Because, that big old meanie said that I had to stay like this for three hours as punishment for the trouble I caused," Berry huffed.

"Is that all? I thought the clown would do worse," Rin stated as he helped get Berry down.

"Oh, there was more. But, you just asked why I was upside-down," Berry said tripping as she tried to regain her balance from having all the blood flowing in her head.

"Are you okay," Krei asked with concern.

Berry gave a nod of reassurance, "That was totally worth it. I have now discovered where he keeps his ice-cream," Berry began laughing maniacally, "Today went just as I planned. Right down to getting captured in Mexico underneath a dining table!"

"Is she always like this," Rin whispered to Krei.

"Pretty much you get used to it after a while though," Krei whispered back. "Well, I guess I'll see you later. Oh, wait I never got your name!"

"My name's Rin Okumura," Rin stated with a bright smile that made Krei's heart want to skip. "Hey, one last time say something in English please?"

Krei blushed lightly and said, "_I think you're cute Rin." _At this moment she was very glad that Berry didn't speak a word of English.

"You said my name and something like cut or coot. What did you say?" he asked in puzzlement.

"Oh, I just said it was… nice of you to let me pet your cat," she said trying to hide her blushing.

Rin just gave a look of oblivious confirmation to that he had been called cute without his knowing. Berry made a sly grin as she watched her cousin eye Rin. "See ya around," he said as he departed.

"So, do you still want to quite the cram school?" Berry asked very assured that the answer would be no as she plopped onto the bed in their dorm room.

"Well, I guess I could give it a try," she said with blush on her face.

"You like him," Berry said in a teasing manner, "Don't lie to me. I saw you lookin~" Berry grinned wider enjoying the blush adorning her cousins face.

"No I don't!" she screeched, "I just… he just annoyed me okay and I felt a bit guilty."

Berry's eye went wide, "OMG! If that is not love in your sick twisted way then I don't know what is! After all you only get annoyed at people you like a_ lot_."

"Shut up," Krei yelled as she smacked her cousin in the head knocking her unconscious.

**Lamoon: That was fun!**

**Moose: YESH! Now to figure out what to put in the next chapter.**

**Lamoon: I hope you enjoyed this. If you have questions about us or Krei and Berry we'll try to answer them. Unless it means we have to do spoilers. I don't do spoilers.**

**Moose: Me neither. Spoiler make my stomach hurt. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Lamoon: Hey next chapter is finally here!**

**Moose: And this time I helped with most of the ideas!**

**Lamoon: So if it sucks blame Moose**

**Moose: Have I ever mentioned how mentioned how much I hate you?**

**Lamoon:Yes.****So we don't own Blue Exorcist or any products, but we aren't dead so that's a plus.**

"I can't take it anymore!" Berry yelled as she threw up the papers on her desk in boredom.

"Calm down! You've only been in school a week," Krei sighed picking up the fallen papers.

"This is why I left school in the first place! I hate doing pointless book work and being in advance placement classes! I just want to beat up demons and get out of here," Berry shouted as she ate an emergency chocolate. It was true that Berry was smart, but she didn't have the patience or desire to focus on school. Krei on the other hand had both traits, but due to her great strength often got expelled.

"Next week we get to pick our Meister for the cram school so that should be fun," Krei smiled and indeed it would be fun.

"Aria? Dragoon? Knight? Doctor?" Krei said in confusion.

"Yeah, they're the different Meister's you can become," Rin stated as the two sat under a tree in the courtyard eating lunch. "I'm training to be knight and a tamer."

"What do they do?" Krei asked taking a bite of her lunch.

"Knights fight with swords and tamers use demon familiars to fight," Rin stated leaning back on the tree.

"Cool," Krei said and looked at Rin's elf ears, "Hey, I have question?"

"Ask away," Rin said.

"Why… well… why are you training to be an exorcist even though you're demon?" Krei asked nervously.

"Because, I want to beat the shit out of Satan simple as that," Rin beamed with fire in his eyes. "You're a demon too right? So why do you want to become an exorcist?"

"I don't want to, but Berry needs me to take care of her. She's the only family I have so I need to watch out for her even if that means becoming an exorcist alongside her," Krei sighed.

"Then how'd you meet?" Rin asked.

"It's a long story," she said.

"Well, good thing we have all lunch break," Rin smiled.

"Fine I'll tell you," she sighed and began,"It all started after I moved to Japan to study abroad...

_It was a few months after a great catastrophe struck Krei's family. Krei was now left in with only the option of moving to Japan. Even then what next? She couldn't speak a word of Japanese and the classes were impossible for her. Krei had never been in the same school for longer than a few months due to her strength causing incidents so her education was dicey. Even worse she had no family to take care of her so she worked various jobs to make ends meet. It took four months for her to drop out and another three before she was fired by her various employers. So to drown her sorrow she decided to pig out on ramen. Before Krei could eat though her bowl was snatched away and gobbled up her food. The thief happened to be a short girl with red hair, pink eyes, dressed in an old gray hoodie, gray pleated skirt, dark green and purple tights, and run down sneakers. _

_"Did you just steal my ramen?" Krei shouted at the girl in sneakers._

_"So what if I did?" she snarled._

_At this moment Krei felt rage. Pure rage. In that moment for the first time in her life Krei was truly angry. Angry about everything that had been going wrong in her life. "That was my ramen!" she screamed as she whacked the girl upside the head with her chopsticks. The next thing she knew Krei was in a hospital and had just given a random thief a blow to the head that would likely put her in a coma. Luckily, it had been just a concussion. _

_"Ma'am, we need you to fill out this form in order to release you so please write your full name," the nurse said to the red headed thief._

_"What if... I for say don't know my last name," the girl shrugged._

_"__Everyone knows their last name silly. Now what's your?" the nurse stated taken a bit aback."Did the concussion also give you amnesia?"_

_"__I don't know my last name though. I never have," the girl sighed. "I know I have an aunt named Sophia Zi, but that's not my last name."_

_"__That's my mom's name!" Krei exclaimed. _

_"__So that makes you Krei Zi. Your parents must have hated you," she laughed. The next few minutes were nothing, but legal matters and papers. Soon Krei was standing outside with the girl whom she learned was named Ichigo (nickname: Berry). After awhile Krei noticed that Berry was following her through the rain as she walked home. _

_Krei turned to face the girl and gave a loud sigh, "How long are you planning on following me?"_

_"__Well, the truth is I don't have a home," Berry laughed._

_"__What about your parents?" Krei asked._

_"__They're dead. They have been for a while now, but you must understand what that stuff is like since you're a half demon too (although I'm ¾ demon)," she said with a smile._

_It was then that Krei saw the demonic presence that Berry carried and realized how similar the girl was to her. "My case isn't is sad as that, but yeah I know what you mean. It looks like both our moms had a thing for demon guys," Krei laughed, "Want to go home with me, cousin?"_

_Berry's eyes lit up with joy as she followed Krei home._

"…and since then we've been joined at the hip."

"You met your cousin in a ramen shop at random and then hit her upside the head with a pair of chopsticks?" Rin said with speculation.

"Actually I hit her twice," Krei beamed innocently. "The first time I hit her was apparently hard enough that the sheer force of the impact cracked one of her ribs."

"That is has got to be one of the coolest/weirdest ways to meet a relative ever," Rin laughed. "You got any other stories?"

"I have a few," Krei said thinking back on all the events that happened since she'd met her eccentric cousin.

Later that day Krei entered the dorm room she was sharing with Berry and noticed something very strange lying on the desk. Picking the object up and looking at her cousin sitting on her bed, "Berry why is your uniform," Krei paused as she tried to find the best words to describe its condition, "damaged beyond all reason?"

Berry put down the manga she was reading and looked at the uniform, "Oh, right. I got hungry so I decided to eat my uniform."

"You did what?" Krei said in slight bewilderment.

"I got hungry so I cooked my uniform and ate it. Well most of it. About a third through the shirt I started thinking 'Why am I eating my uniform when I have chocolate ice-cream' so I ate a tub of ice-cream instead and uniform as a plate. Then I thought that the chocolate stains made it look weird so I drew rainbows on it in sharpie!"

"Well, that's nice to hear," Krei sighed as she started on her homework.

Berry raised a brow at Krei's reaction, "Aren't you going to lecture me or something. Even I know you don't normally eat clothes so why aren't you making a fuss."

"After living with you for over a year I realized that when you say I 'ate' something that's your way of saying that you hate it with a burning passion (Even if that item happens to be real food)," Krei stated bluntly continuing with her work.

"Darn. That means I need to be more creative with my attempts, but I will admit that the shirt tasted really good," Berry smirked thinking of all the ways she could cause trouble.

The next day they would test out the different types of Miesters. Since the other cram students had already picked out their Miester the only ones in the class who hadn't were Krei and Berry.

"In order to help you better understand what you would do as a Doctor I have out some medicinal herbs," Yukio said gesturing to the various bottles on the table. "Many are used simply for treating others, but some are used to harm demons."

Krei cautiously held a bottle full of a strange yellow powder. "What's this?" she asked.

"That's a type of pollen generally used to paralyze your enemies. Be careful though it works on people to," Yukio said taking the bottle as Berry gave a loud sneeze and tumbled forward smashing into the desk causing the bottles to fly off. Everyone made a mad dash and caught them. Krei in her moment of pride forgot the fragile bottles in her hand and crushed it. A sickly green ooze along with the yellow powder poured down. Everyone quickly tried to cover their nose to keep from smelling the rancid odor permeating the room only to drop more bottles. Krei was certain she was about to throw up or even collapses as she attempted to wipe the ooze off only to be immobilized by the powder.

Berry on the other hand was jerking around uncontrollably on the floor unable to stop from laughing out madly. Her eyes dilating and her face begin to harden into a twisted smile.

Yukio had started to gather the herbs and such. Calling for help as he wiped the ooze off Krei's face in order to keep the girl from experiencing hypothermia and freeing Berry from her laughing fit (which incidentally was just Berry laughing).

After the whole ordeal was over Berry's uniform now had a giant green stain on it which she took in her mouth and said, "Hey, my skirt tastes like salami!" Krei rolled her eyes at Berry who was ever optimistic, "with a hint of provolone."

"I think being a doctor is out of the question," Krei stated looking at the various broken containers.

Next up they'd test out being Tamers.

"So we just put some blood on this paper and chant something?" Berry asked as she looked at the tiny strip of paper.

"That would be correct," the teacher said.

They both pricked their fingers with the needle they had been provided with and smeared their blood on the paper.

"Come forth and help my aid," Krei chanted.

"I command you to do my bidding and destroy all who stand in my way with your awesomeness!" Berry shouted.

Bursting forth from Krei's paper was a demon made entirely out of violet flames. From Berry's appeared a large giant demonic... sandal.

"What. The. Hell?" Berry said looking at the sandal in disappointment. "Oh, come on! Krei gets a flaming ball of awesomeness and I get the slipper from hell!"

Krei on the other hand was completely afraid of the purple flames that looked like they wanted to eat her. She watched as the fire's beady eyes looked at her hungrily. "Eek!" she screeched as the demon got closer. In an attempt to distance herself from the demon she stepped on the sandal making it growl. Krei leaped off the sandal and Berry watched in amusement as the sandal attempted to eat Krei.

The ball of fire then tried to harm the sandal demon. This instead led to the sandal being grabbed roughly by Krei and used to beat up the little purple demon. The poor ball of fire ended up flung across the room breaking the chalkboard before the teachers tore their spells.

"That was fun let's do it again," Berry grinned earning a chorus of 'NO'.

Now they looked into becoming Arias.

"Does anyone else see the huge, gaping, mistake in having half (and ¾)-demons read out Holy Scriptures for exorcism?" Berry sighed as she looked at the Torah in her hand.

"It's just to see how well you'd fair in the category," the teacher explained, "and the chances of this killing you are minimal."

Berry was about to say that a minimal chance doesn't mean it won't occur, but gave up on the idea. After all there's no reasoning with idiots. "What passage should we read?" Berry asked

"I'd like to skip this one please," Krei said handing back the book. "I feel like I'll just cause trouble."

"Understood," the instructor sighed. "Ms. Ichigo do you wish to skip this one as well?"

"No. I think I can do this one pretty well," Berry grinned and began reciting everything from the first three passages before tossing the book behind her back.

The book glided across the room before falling onto an unsteady shelf the flicked upward flinging another book which knocked down a desk chair. The chair then fell backwards landing on a student's fallen pencil flinging to upwards where hit the light bulb breaking it making the room go dark and forcing everyone to shield their eyes from falling glass which made them jump back a bit causing Krei to crash into the wall (which she broke).

Berry looked at the chaos around her laughed a bit, "Wow. I wasn't even trying to cause trouble."

"These are toy guns, but they're accurate so aim at the target like you would a real gun," Yukio said as he handed a gun to both Krei and Berry.

Berry leaned in and said in hushed voice to Yukio. "You really thinks it's a good idea to give a girl with uncontrollable super-strength a gun?"

"That's why I gave her a toy with no bullets," Yukio said as he watched Krei try to figure out how she was supposed to hold a gun. Taking aim at a the target Krei cocked the gun back and pressed the trigger lightly watching as black plastic piece imbedded itself into the wall in front of her and effectively breaking the guns trigger.

"I thought you said it was empty?" Berry said.

"It was," Yukio said noting at how the mechanism of the gun had been forcibly shattered and flown into the wall. Yukio didn't even think Rin could do something like that without a fair amount of effort. "Krei, I think you should try using this sword instead." Yukio handed Krei a wooded sword which Krei didn't immediately break giving him some belief that Krei wouldn't muck this up.

"I know how to shoot a gun so I'm gonna just stick with that, see ya," Berry said as she left seeing Rin on her way out. "If you value your life you'll stay out of the room until Krei has managed to break something."

Rin not taking Berry's advice entered the room and saw Krei swinging around a wooden sword. "You going to be a knight?" Rin asked and watched as Krei tensed up.

"U-huh," Krei murmured as she dropped the sword clumsily which Rin handed to her making her blush.

"Let me show how to hold it," Rin said as he placed hand on Krei's hand. Krei tightened her grip on the handle snapping it in half. "Wow, that's some grip you got!"

"Sorry!' Krei said as she ran away in embarrassment heading back to her dorm room.

On arrival she was surprised to see Berry wasn't home yet. Oh, well. It didn't matter much. She'd show up sooner or later. As Krei changed out of her uniform her necklace fell off making her cringe.

Whatever.

It was just a nuisance anyway. She hated the thing. It made her want to feel and act... Krei shuddered inwardly thinking it, human.

Krei had never once felt human and for almost her whole life she'd lived without emotions. She'd learned to mimic human emotions, but she couldn't understand them.

She still couldn't.

Looking out the window she saw a bird sitting without a care on near by branch. Carefully, Krei snatched the small bird and held it in her hand.

She then extended the bird's wing touching the soft feathers and with her strength snapped it off as effortlessly as you would a piece of tissue paper.

The blood spilled from the gapping wound in the bird's side and Krei laughed as the bird cried in shrill cheeps.

Krei repeated the process on the other wing snapping it in half gleefully.

The chirping grew louder and Krei found herself bored with the sound so she proceeded to snap the things neck like a twig.

She chewed on organs before depositing the body outside her window with a smile. The blood on her fingers tasted sweet like candy. She did so enjoy the red liquid, it was too bad drinking it was frowned upon. Raw intestines and flesh were nice, but they weren't as tasty.

She'd just have to satisfy herself by reading more of her book of Russian torture methods. This evening looked to be very fun.

Meanwhile with Berry

"BOOOOORRRRRREEEEDDD," Berry groaned as she shot a smiley face into the wall with some paint bullets.

"What in the world are you doing?" Mephisto asked.

"I'm bored," Berry answered shooting at the wall again.

"Did you have to take it out on my wall?" Mephisto said noting the paint that had dripped onto his carpet.

"The wall had it coming," Berry said pouting a bit, "I bet you didn't even get that reference."

"What reference?" Mephisto asked going over his extensive knowledge of the media.

"You've never seen _Sherlock_!? That's it, I know how to relieve my boredom. You are watching _Sherlock_ whether you like it or not," Berry then ran and brought a DVD over and immediately sat herself on the floor and started up the first episode.

Halfway through the second episode Berry looked at Mephisto and said, "If you don't ship Jonlock I swear to God I will kill you."

He chuckled to himself a bit. Mostly at the fact that Berry seemed to think she could actually harm him. He would go along with the child's whims today and then get caught up on his shows and scroll through his Tumblr feed.

"I ship it," was all Mephisto said as the two spent the whole evening watching _Sherlock_ and eating junk food.

**Moose- Looks like krei has gone Cray cray!**

**Lamoon- *smacks* no**

**Moose- Ooww**

**Lamoon- Please fave/follow and review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Lamoon: *Creepy Voice* Hello everyone. I hope you all enjoy the chapter**

**Moose- *happy voice that ruins creepy aura* Yeah! Its gonna be great you guys will totally love it!**

**Lamoon: I hate you! How dare you ruin my dooming atmosphere with your eternal cheer! For that I will force you into a hug! *hugs aggressively***

**Moose- *hisses* NUUUU! READERS LIKE A HAPPY AURA! JUST CONTINUE ON WITH THE DISCLAIMER**

**Lamoon: *huff* Fine. So this part of the story is divided into two chapters. I hope you all has lotz of fun. We do not own Blue Exorcist or a moose or a llama.**

Admits a temple grounds in the Japanese countryside a dark shadow was lurking. A voice was whispering into the ear of a priest who was walking down the road towards a small town. The voice told him to kill people. To let their blood soak the ground till everything was soaked red. The priest grinned at the thought. Though he wasn't sure why.

It must have been that luring honey coated voice in his ears that made this seem so pleasant. He took out a knife and approached someone on the moonlit path.

"Oh. Ryuga-san, what brings you here so late at night?" a woman in her early thirties said looking at the priest.

"I could say the same about you," the priest said coming closer and when in reach took his blade through the woman's neck before she could let out a scream. Her body fell with a thump and blood poured from the wound in her neck.

The priest then returned to his dwelling in the temple. He would soon wake with no knowledge of what had transpired.

"So as you all should know by now, hopefully, demons and spirits aren't bound to a region. In many cases this will apply. Still some spirits are only found in a certain area. An example being that certain types of Tengu can only be found in specific areas of Japan mainly on a few mountains. Now we are soon going to do a field assignment where I want you to assess what spirit has been causing trouble for the people living in a small town in Hokkaido. Whoever figures it out first will automatically get an A and be excused from next weeks essay," Yukio said as he wrote on the chalkboard having the full attention of the class.

"Why bother trying to figure it out? It's probably just a Kitsune or Tengu," Shima huffed leaning back in his chair.

"Well then if you're correctly you'll be making an easy A on this," Yukio said as he passed back everyone's test grades.

Berry couldn't wait to start this mission. It sounded exciting and challenging. Berry loved a challenge.

Krei on the other hand just wanted to get out of this school. Screw the mission. She just wanted a break from all her bad grades. Also she wanted a chance to take her necklace off. Though most the time she feared the idea of it coming off when she went long periods of time without removing it her demonic side started bleed into her human side making her grouchy. Not that most would be able to tell since Krei being grouchy simply meant she smiled more. Still she itched for the chance kill in the back almost, subconscious, part of her mind.

"Hey, Krei want to have lunch together?" Rin asked as the headed out of the classroom. The two of them had been having lunch together a lot lately. Krei nodded silently and trotted next to shorter boy.

"So what do you have for lunch?" Rin said looking at Krei's small lunch bag.

Krei wasn't sure how she was to explain the contents of her bag. How do you tell people that you're sandwich meat is made from a mouse you saw in the woods making you're BLT an MLT, or that you're dessert was an infant bird still in the egg, or that you're extra special juice was just human blood recently taken from the blood bank? Krei decided to answer the way they would back home. "Just some stuff."

"Ok. Cool. You should let me make you lunch sometime," Rin said as they took a seat under the tree that was slowly becoming their spot.

"I'd like that,"Krei said with a smile as she took out her seemingly normal lunch. One could easily get the wrong impression about Krei's favorite foods. It wasn't that she liked eating small animals it was that she like to eat their energy and life force this translated to eat the blood and guts. It was a simply her demon nature rearing its ugly head out.

The two had small talk as she finished her sandwich she started to drink her bottle of blood savoring the delicious flavor. Human blood was much tastier than normal animal blood.

"Hey can I have a sip of that?" Rin asked not waiting for an actual response as he took the bottle out of Krei's cringed and resisted the urge to snatch it back.

As Rin took a sip he found himself surprised by the flavor. The drink wasn't very fruity tasting and was very robust yet sweet. It left a slight metallic aftertaste that he didn't mind. The taste was addicting.

"This stuff tastes awesome! What is it?" he exclaimed taking another sip before reluctantly giving it back to Krei.

_'So he's never had human blood before. Think Krei. What could you say that won't make you seem like a bigger freak then you are?_' Krei thought panicking inwardly.

"Umm. It's an American drink," she answered. Technically it wasn't a lie. The blood was from an American and it was a drink.

"Then make sure to bring me some next time we have lunch," Rin said believing Krei's word.

"Sure. But, you have to bring lunch," Krei smiled.

Meanwhile Berry sat perched up on a tree branch with a tub of ice-cream and binoculars in her hands. She was spying on the evil hat wearing demon who was sitting in his office. She waited inpatiently as the demon shuffled through papers on his desk.

"That's right you fool. Open up that bottom drawer," she grinned quickly eat two large bites of strawberry vanilla choco-pickle swirl watched as Mephisto opened a few of the top drawers as if he was looking for something, slowly making his way to the bottom.

"Come on. Just open it already," Berry said with gritted teeth.

Mephisto then opened the desk drawer and confetti flew in his face sticking to his clothes since Berry had laced it with superglue.

"Victory!" Berry threw her hands in the air.

"Oh really? I guess then you consider ruining my suit a victory?" a dark foreboding voice of doom said smooth and honey like from behind her. A chill went down Berry's spine, and a few pieces of loose confetti blew past her from behind.

"Oh fudgesicle."

A week later the group of students took a door that led to Hokkaido and then sat on a bus heading towards the village. Everyone had packed for an overnight visit and would be staying at the local temple.

"I bet what's causing things to go all wonky is some weird spirit you don't usually see," Berry said looking in an encyclopedia of Japanese yokai. "I mean seriously our culture has some weird spirits."

"Like I said before it's totally just a kitsune or a tengu." Shima said leaning back in his seat as much as he could.

"Bet ya it's not!" Berry said leaning over the top of the seat.

"Bet ya it is," Shima said smugly.

"Fifty bucks and a date with Kreisays it's something weird," Berry said gaining Krei's immediate attention.

"Berry you can't just bet me!"

"Fifty bucks and a new copy of the latest volume of Blue Exorcist says it just your typical tengu or kitsune." Shima said.

"Deal" with that the two shook on it.

"Just great," Krei muttered sighing a bit as she gazed out the window at the green landscape. Her eyes unconsciously drifted towards Rin who sat just a few rows in front of her napping. She wondered what Rin thought of this mission. She wondered what Rin thought of her.

But the thoughts didn't last long since the bus very soon lurched to a stop. Everyone stepped out and was greeted by the smell of fresh country air.

"Everyone please head this way." Yukio said as he gestured for the students to follow him up the hill towards the temple.

The journey up the hill was long and tiring and by the time they got to the temple nobody wanted to move. The group stood in front of the entrance panting except for Yukio.

Standing at the door was a monk in his mid forties. "Welcome fellow exorcists. Please come inside and I'll show you around the temple." The monk escorted the students around the temple and giving rather boring lectures about the temple's history. After giving everyone a chance to drop their stuff off in two separate rooms they headed to the living area.

"Ryuga-san, I would like you to tell my students what going on," Yukio said bowing his head slightly.

"Of course. You see this village has always been very peaceful and demons rarely attack let alone show up here." the man let out a small sad sigh as he paused and looked at the ceiling forlornly. "Lately though there's been a string of missing people and strange occurrences that shouldn't be happening. We're not sure what's causing it. We need it to stop soon before anyone else gets hurt or disappears."

"How many victims have there been so far?" Bon said with concern.

"So far twenty-four have gone missing and seven have been in accidents." Compared to some places the amount wasn't much, but then again this was a small town. This was no matter to sneeze at.

"I see. Has anything happened before these people these incidents occur?" asked Yukio taking note on every word coming from the monk's mouth.

"Well... they always happen at night or at least someplace dark. All of the injuries so far include some form of being cut or blood loss. So far though this the only lead we have." the monk said trying to think of any other information he could give only to draw a blank.

"I see. That info will be most helpful." Yukio gave a bow and everyone silently left the room to ponder what they'd been told.

Krei and Berry decided they were going to relax in the room for a bit.

"Hey Krei, what demon do you think is causing all this?" Berry asked flipping around the pages of her book.

"I have no clue. You're probably better at figuring this stuff out then I am." Krei mumbled her words as leaned back against the wall with a sigh.

"Don't give up before you've even tried!" Berry scolded and walked off to go explore the surrounding area.

Once she was gone Krei picked up the book and leafed through it and stopped at the name one yokai at random. It was one called Jubokko. She didn't get a chance to read the section though since she was called by another girl to join them as they explored the town.

The town was small with old traditional styled homes and small pockets of gardens and farmland. Thick old beautiful trees surrounded the town and in the center was an old Japanese maple tree.

Shiemi had a large smile as she saw the healthy foliage, but was puzzled when she looked at the grass around the base of the tree. She knelt on the ground and felt the dirt.

"That's strange," she said softly and Rin bent down next to her.

"What is it?" he asked not seeing anything wrong besides that maybe the grass around the tree was a bit brown and brittle.

"Well, it's just the soils really loose and dry. It also seems a bit dead near the base of the tree." Shiemi said testing the soil and watching it crumble in her hands.

"It probably just needs fertilizer or something. Hurry up, I don't want be looking at some tree all day," Izumo said stalking off with Shiemi following close behind. Everyone else stated to slowly scatter.

All except Krei who stood there at the base of the tree. She pressed a hand to the trunk feeling the rough bark beneath her skin. She was about to come even closer to the tree and press her face on its base when-

"Krei come check this out!" she heard Rin call and left slowly.

By the time the students had returned back to the temple it was already almost nightfall.

"You know what I'm liking the most about this trip," Berry said rhetorically. "Not having to deal with that annoying weird definitely manipulative jerk."

"Really?" a new voice said.

"That's right-" Berry stopped in mid-sentence and looked at the person next to her. "I'm in trouble aren't I?"

Mephisto grinned, "Just a little bit. I'm giving you some time to run before I punish you."

"Eins"

Berry quickly thought over the best possible place to hide.

"Zwei"

Berry immediately took off running.

"Drei"

And the chase once again started anew.

Krei got a little worried when she realized Berry hadn't come back. She was about to go out and look for her when Mephisto walked in the door with a screaming and kicking Berry on his shoulder. For some reason she was also wearing a cactus suit.

"Headmaster Pheles what are you doing here?" Krei asked.

"Well, I was supposed to come with you to observe the class. Unfortunately though I got caught up in some pressing matters and was only able make it just now. I would have been here sooner, but I ran into trouble with _this_ so I was delayed even more.

"Can you put me down now?" Berry huffed not wanting to be on the clown's shoulder any longer than she had to be. Mephisto then picked her up by the neck and dropped her carelessly on the ground.

She glared at him a bit before stomping off to who knows where with as much dignity as one can have while wearing a cactus suit.

"You didn't try too hard to hide today. I was very disappointed." Mephisto called.

Berry became flustered a bit and faced him with accusation. "Shut up! The only reason you caught me so easy today was 'cause I'm tired! Next time you won't have nearly as much luck!" she then continued down the hallway now seething a bit.

Mephisto rolled his eyes internally and walked the opposite direction Berry had gone as he went to speak with the head monk.

Krei simply relieved that Berry was perfectly fine went off towards the kitchen in hopes that she might be able to help Rin cook dinner.

Krei did help with the cooking in that she gut the fish that they would be eating snack on the occasional liver or two.

After the amazing dinner everyone was more than ready for bed, but first a quick dip in the bath.

Krei had just gotten out of the tub and was walking down the hall towards the girls' bedroom. After a bit of walking she realized that she was a bit lost. Thinking she'd at last found the right room she opened up the door.

Inside was Rin. Undressing himself and his pants and boxers just barely off.

Krei stared at Rin's abs and body for far longer than she should have. Even if that time was only three seconds.

She very smoothly closed the sliding door, turned away, walked three steps from the door, and fell on the floor trying to process what just happened.

Her face was strangely bright red and flushed and she was embarrassed in a way that was completely new. Her heart was pounding out of her chest at an alarmingly fast rate.

Then she thought about what happened in greater detail.

She'd accidentally walked in on Rin changing while she herself was only wrapped in her towel since she forgot to bring her clothes into the bath.

What did he think of her now! Her head was spinning in a way it never had before.

"Hey, Krei you alright?" someone asked.

Krei looked and noticed Shima looking down at her. "What are you doing on the floor?"

Krei quickly thought of an excuse, "I tripped. Also I'm... lost."

Shima let out a small laugh as he gave out a hand that Krei to and pulled herself up with keeping a careful grip on her towel. "You're a bit of an air head aren't you?"

"Not usually, but sometimes. I'm really just a clutz," Krei admitted.

"That's fine by me. Personally I think stuff like that makes you cute," Shima said as he walked Krei to the correct room checking her out the whole time.

Krei wasn't too bad to look at. She had nice long legs and her face was pretty cute. Even the fact that she was taller than him was awesome since she didn't seem to notice he wasn't exactly looking at her face. He was so looking forward to his date.

When they reached her room Krei ran inside quickly not even bothering with a thank you. She just wanted to throw on some pajamas and sleep.

"Where have you been?" asked Berry who was laying in bed eating pocky.

"I got lost," Krei sighed plopping down on the futon.

"I'd hate to get lost in what you were wearing." Izumo said taking one of Berry's pocky.

"I know. It was awkward since I was starting to get cold. Thankfully, Shima found me." Krei smiled innocently not understanding the real reason why it was awkward.

"I pity you." Izumo said deciding that innocent people should still be allowed to retain innocence.

Berry on the other hand couldn't care less. It wasn't like if a guy tried to hurt Krei she couldn't just beat them up.

Soon everyone in the girl's room was asleep.

Rin walked back to his room slightly paranoid. Mostly, since Krei walking in on him was so embarrassing. He wanted to avoid bumping into anyone in the hall

Rin had been so shocked when Krei walked in that for the time she'd stood there his brain practically shut down. Only when she closed the door did he start to move. He turned so red and flushed he thought he might pass out.

He tried to process everything slowly. Krei had just walked in with only a towel on her and was wet. Logical assumption was that she left something in the bathroom and forgotten it. So it was all just a big accident.

Rin looked around the room and noticed something on the floor. It was a small flower hair pin. Krei didn't wear much besides her necklace, but he remembered Krei wearing it earlier. He picked up and placed it next to his things. Now he could take a bath.

As he walked in the room he saw that Shima was pouting a bit.

"What's up with you?" Rin said getting into some pajamas.

"Nothing worth talking about," Bon said. "He's just upset 'cause he got left out in the cold."

So the usual rejection by never seemed to learn.

"I wonder if the girls are already asleep?" Shima said smirking. "If they're not and stuff we could so peak on them."

Rin was about to literally knock some sense into him only to have that duty taken by Bon.

"You are such a perv," Bon sighed. "Besides, you'd be killed by Okumura or even Mephisto."

"I have no qualms with you boys attempting to peak on the girls. Though I don't recommend peaking on Berry."Mephisto said as he flipped through the pages of a manga.

"Cause you got dibs on her?" Shima joked. He almost immediately regretted that and held his breath in case he made Mephisto mad.

Lucky for him, he didn't. Mephisto just rolled his eyes. "Because, she may be fifteen, but has the body of a twelve year old. Unless you're interested in that go ahead. Personally though I prefer women over little immature obnoxious girls."

As Berry lay in bed she got the sudden urge to punch Mephisto. That could wait till morning.

All the male students looked at each other and agreed that peeping was not the best idea. Sleeping was a much better option.

In the midst of that night as the moon lay hidden behind clouds a stirring occurred in the town.

A figure shrouded in the dark of night stalked slowly a knife in hand. This figure ready to spill the blood of whoever came by smiled a sick twisted grin. They licked their lips at the thought of the kill.

Walking through the town barefooted the figure spotted someone. Stepping lightly the figure approached the person standing on their porch smoking a cigarette. The smoke clouding the air bringing discomfort to the figure.

The man smoking was old. Probably in his sixties. He looked out at the approaching figure.

"Well, what brings you here?" he asked with a warm smile recognizing the figure and before the man could even think a knife was plunged into his neck.

The figure grinned at their worked. But, they had to return home and soon. So the figure walked slowly back up to the temple.

Krei woke up feeling groggy that morning. She almost just went back to sleep instead she slowly forced her head off the pillow.

In a daze Krei walked towards the bathroom in deep need of some water splashed on her face. She walked a good distance before nodding off while standing. The boys walking down the hall couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"It's kind of impressive when you think about it," Konekomaru said poking at Krei's arm.

"Why do you think she's standing in the middle of the hall?" asked Ryuji who poked at her cheek.

"Maybe she was sleep walking," Shima said giving Krei a gentle push just to see if that would cause her to fall down. It didn't.

"I wonder what's she dreaming about?" Rin said thinking that as weird as it was Krei was cute like this.

Berry woke up instantaneously and looked around the room for Krei. She wasn't there meaning Krei had walked off while she was practically asleep. Her bed was still warm so it had to be about one or two minutes since she left. Berry had to hurry.

Rin was debating if he should leave Krei in the hall or take her back to her room. Krei then opened her groggy sleep filled eyes.

"Berry take your medicine." she mumbled in English.

Krei then reached a hand out and grabbed Rin pulling him into a death hug.

"Mr. Pillow you're my only friend."

"Krei let go! I can't breathe!" Rin gasped unable to escape her strong grip.

Suddenly, cold water was splashed on Krei's face and she snapped out her sleepy state.

"I'm sorry!" Krei screeched immediately running into the girls' bedroom.

Berry handed a spare water gun over to Rin. "Trust me when I say you're going to need this."

After that the temple became less hectic as everyone ate breakfast. The peace was interrupted though as the head monk let out a concerned yell.

"You mean another person has gone missing?"

The exorcists heard from the table.

"Who was the victim?"

"I see Mr. Yamato then? I'll add him to the list of missing people."

The group at the table began to eat sullenly minus Mephisto.

"What do you think happened to him?" Shiemi said breaking the silence.

"Hard to say. He might have been spirited away or killed." Bon said as he took a bite of his food.

That only made the mood worse.

"Everyone were going to go look for clue regarding Mr. Yamato's disappearance." Yukio said to the table.

The whole walk to the town Berry was glaring at Mephisto.

"Why are you glaring at me insignificant midget?" Mephisto said making Berry even more enraged towards him.

"Last night you insulted me and I know it! You'll be sorry for that!" Berry said punching him in the arm.

"What I said was true though. You are a little kid," Mephisto cooed ignoring Berry's punches and mussed her hair. "You can't even take care of yourself."

"That's not true!" Berry stomped. "I'm very mature I just don't look it," Berry finished her sentence by yelling, "and I refuse to be told off by some homosexual pedophiliac clown like you!" Berry took off running towards the woods away from the group not even bothering to stick around for Mephisto's reaction.

**Lamoon: So this is where we stop for now. You might be wondering while you read this what a Kitsune or Tengu are.**

**Kitsune- Fox Spirit**

**Tengu- Crow Spirit.**

**Moose: I hope you all enjoyed. We will update real soon so please fav/follow/review and worship the all might yoai god~**


	4. Chapter 4

**Lamoon: We're back at last. I honestly thought this chapter would be done sooner. **

**Moose: If you didn't slack off it would have been -_- **

**Lamoon: You slacked too. Anyway we almost had to divide this into three chapters. Hope you enjoy. **

**Moose: We do not own Blue Exorcist. But... we shamefully have been forgetting the existence of Shura... We accept our shame. *aura of shame* **

Mephisto was very annoyed and slightly angry at Berry. For this reason he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of running after her. Her punishment would be him ignoring her. Knowing Berry she also wasn't likely to come back until someone forced her to and even then she would ignore him till he spoke with her. How very immature.

"Hmm, where is Berry?" Yukio said as they reached the town.

"Ms. Midget has run off, but don't worry about her. She's not the type to die easy." Mephisto reassured Yukio that Berry was definitely fine on her own and should be ignored.

As the exorcist students looked around Mr. Yamato's house they found no trace of him till Izumo noticed a halfway burnt through cigarette in the front yard.

"Hey, Ryuga-san did Mr. Yamamoto smoke?" she asked looking around the area.

"Like a chimney," Ryuga said.

Izumo looked closely at the ground with Shiemi who pointed out how the soil around the cigarette was like that she'd seen around the base of the maple.

The fact would have been forgotten if not for the fact that the dirt was in the middle of small vegetable patch. Any gardener would no better than to let the soil get like this.

As the others left to look around elsewhere Krei stooped down and held a wad of dirt in her hands smelling a metallic scent. The tree had smelled the same way.

She walked towards the center where the maple was. Ryuga was sitting on a bench in front of it.

"Ryuga-san, I have a question about this tree. Is there any local legend about it or something that happened around it?" Krei asked.

Ryuga pondered his thoughts a bit and answered with. "Well, a young woman hanged herself on it a few months back, but besides that nothing. Well, not nothing. The tree is really old. That help?"

"Kind of," Krei sighed. She just had a feeling about that eerie metallic scent.

Rin had packed the two of them lunch that day and when five o'clock came they were starving. They were eating so late because the two got caught up in playing in a nearby stream. They sat on the bench by the maple with two bottles of Krei's 'Special American Drink'.

"By the way you...um... yesterday," Rin started with a stutter as he was about to pull out Krei's hairpin.

"Just forget about yesterday. Walking in on you was a total accident. I was just..." Krei in her smiling embarrassment dropped her bottle watching it fall to the ground and spill. Krei picked it up a scowled a bit at her now almost empty bottle.

"Here have mine," Rin said handing a reluctant Krei his bottle.

She shyly sipped the drink and looked at her feet. When she looked she realized something odd the blood that had fallen on the ground was gone and when she felt the ground it was bone dry as well as dead.

So whatever was moving around here had a taste for blood. It was also fast.

"Stupid jerk! Always treating me like I'm some moron or a toddler or a weebo! Seriously, how can I be a weebo? I'm Japanese for Pete's sake." Berry muttered under her breath as she sat in the middle of clearing in the woods.

It may have been hours since she last saw the clown but she was still pissed at him.

"I'll show him! I can be extremely mature and I am smart! I'm not short either! I'm just waiting for the right time to grow. At least he didn't insult the girls. 'Cause I'm not flat chested either! You got that ya pedophile!" Berry ranted into the air in frustration.

What was she even doing? She was hungry, but still she refused to leave the clearing in case she ran into him.

Why was she so mad? It wasn't unusual for her to be insulted she had actually come to expect it. She wasn't entirely human after all.

Plopping herself on the ground she sighed heavily and started playing around with the ground. Mephisto was so stupid! "Next time I won't play with him at all."

Berry then noticed something near the base of the tree. It looked like a person was sleeping under the tree. As she approached the base she saw that the body looked incredibly boney and the person's chest wasn't moving.

"Hey, you alright?" Berry said as she slowly approached the tree. The person's body then lurched up and looked at her with hollow eyes.

"Thirsty," the person spoke hoarsely as they approached slowly and reached a shaky hand out towards Berry.

"I'll get you some water then," Berry said stepping back a bit when she noticed a kitchen blade held in the other hand.

"No need," another hoarse voice spoke and Berry turned and saw a small crowd gathering around her holding blades. Berry looked around and with wide eyes as all the people looked at her with hollow eyes and blank expressions. Well, she found the missing people and Berry also had a feeling that she'd won the bet.

Shiemi looked in the back of the dark gardening shed at Mr. Yamamoto's. It was the only place she hadn't checked out. "Nee, do you see anything strange?" The infant green-man gave negative nee as Shiemi moved further into the dark shed. As she explored the shed she found herself tripping over a rake and landing on a something sharp tearing at the flesh on her arm.

Looking at her arm in worry as the blood steadily dripped onto the floor Shiemi quickly got up and ran towards the door only it seemed to be locked. "Is anybody there? Yukio? Rin? Izumo? Somebody help!" she called banging loudly on the metal door. She called again and again eventually turning to waiting in the darkness.

A slithering sound was heard and Shiemi panicked. She banged on the door again. "Please, someone help!" The sound became louder and louder so she banged harder and harder against the door. Why wasn't anyone coming to help her? "Nee can you do something to open the door?" The infant green-man was about to give a nod when a slimy tendril latched onto her stomach and arm. Shiemi loud out an even louder shriek, as she was pulled further back into the shed. "HELP"

The door opened not a moment later as Bon, who'd been walking towards the shed in order to check on the girl, stormed in. "Shiemi!" he cried as ran quickly toward her and swatted away at the tendril that encased itself on her waist. Quickly, the tendril slithered away and out of the two exwire's sight as they fled the shed.

"Are you okay?" Bon asked as he looked over a panting Shiemi.

Blood was dripping off the girls arm and the places where the tendrils had grabbed her appeared to be bite marks, she also looked pale and drained. "I'm fine" she huffed with some difficulty.

"No you're not! We need to get you to doctor." Bon said calmly as he started dragging a reluctant Shiemi.

"But I'm fine," she interjected she was, "just thirsty." That was it. The feeling she had was one of unquenched thirst. She looked at the blood on her arm and licked her lips slowly. She was so thirsty and the ground was so dry. The earth was crying for something to quench its thirst and she knew that had to be solved. She loved nature and new it needed to be cared for.

"Spill blood for me. Dye the ground red in blood." a honey voice said in her mind. She would spill blood starting with her classmate.

Yukio looked at his brother who was eating lunch with Krei. He was surprised with how well behaved his brother was being. At the same time he was noting how none of the students seemed to be getting anywhere with the assignment. Which wouldn't have been a problem if Yukio hadn't been having trouble finding the demon. It shouldn't be this hard.

The only clue they had was blood loss which could mean just about anything. If only they had a hint.

He watched as Krei dropped a bottle on the ground and Yukio watched as the liquid was sucked up by root like tendrils in a mere instant.

That was his hint.

"I'm warning you stay away from me!" Berry yelled as she backed up into the center of the crowd. "I don't want to hurt you."

The lurching figures all let out a disturbing chorus of laughs.

"You may not want to hurt us but we definitely want to hurt you." one them said with a dark grin.

Berry looked over the group and ran quickly attempting to get over one of the monsters head. She would have succeeded to if not for two giant tendrils sprouting out of the ground grabbing her by the ankles and slamming her against a tree.

The long root like structure with small little mouths full of sharp teeth latched onto Berry squeezing the breath out of her and drawing blood.

"Je refuse! I will not become the victim of tentacle porn!" Berry screamed out as the tendrils rapped tighter around her. She sank her teeth down on the tendril. The tendril flinched a bit but still did not let her go. She pressed her teeth harder causing the tendril to loosen just a bit.

Berry took this chance to break free and landed firmly on the ground. She whined a bit when she saw the state of her favorite jacket.

This time a person lunged at her with a knife she quickly dogged it though leaning to the side and kicking them back into a tree.

The tendrils tried to get her from below but Berry jumped in time and used the momentum to crash down onto another person, a women, who crumpled like paper.

She then punched the face of a balding man taking the knife he dropped midair. Quickly, Berry parried off the knife of another person cutting them lightly across the chest and pushing them down.

The tendrils lunged at her from behind catching her a bit off guard, but she managed to duck under them in time. "What in the world is going on here?" she muttered as she returned to fighting.

Krei gazed at the dry earth below her. A sudden and rather stupid idea occurred to her.

She discarded her lunch, walked towards the maple tree, and slammed her fist deep within the base of the trunk. When she pulled out her hand is was coated in that all too familiar red liquid.

"What the heck?" Rin said looking at the blood that coated Krei's hand. "Why is there blood in that tree?"

It was human blood mixed with that over lower level demons. Krei could smell that much.

A rumbling was suddenly heard as the ground started to shake. Suddenly, roots or what seemed like roots sprang from the ground below them.

The two jumped back quickly and looked closer at the tree. Teeth could be seen on the roots that were coated in blood and grime. Blood gushed from the hole in the tree in large amounts coating the ground.

"What is that?" Rin sputtered as he held onto the hilt of a wooden sword.

"I think it's a Jubokko. I read about in Berry's book. They're a tree yokai that drinks human blood." Krei said holding up her fists awkwardly in defense. "It must have been killing off people in the town."

A gunshot was heard as Yukio took aim at the tree. The roots split off to attack the exorcist whose bullets seemed to have no effect against the demon and to Rin who flared in anger revealing beautiful blue flames.

Shiemi felt her first suddenly rise. Something had happened to the Jubokko. It was crying out in pain it needed more blood. She looked to her familiar and smiled. "Nee bring me something sharp."

The familiar looked at her questionably before following its orders producing from its belly a sharp branch.

"Good work Nee." Shiemi said with a dark grin as she looked at Bon's back. She stabbed her friend deep in the back before pulling out the branch again. "Sorry Suguro. I was going to wait till nighttime but the Jubokko is in pain. Your blood will make an excellent fertilizer."

Ryuji looked at her in shock. Was she possessed? He moved away from her quickly and started an anti-possession aria.

"Oh, that's so mean Suguro! Why would you chant something so cruel?" Shiemi cried out in laugh as the long tendrils from before came up from out of the ground. Now he could clearly see them for what they were. Roots.

"Bon!" he heard the familiar voices of Shima and Konekomaru.

"Stay back," he called watching as the roots now took aim towards his friends too.

Shima batted the roots away best he could with his staff while Konekomaru did his best not to get caught and chanted protective scriptures.

"What is this thing?" Shima said as struck down on a root.

"Shiemi said something about a Jubokko. So that's probably what it is." Ryuji said as he joined his friends having given up on his aria.

"Isn't that the tree that drinks human blood?" Konekomaru said for a split second and continued chanting.

"Yeah," Shima said smacking down another root only to have a sad realization. "Aw man, I lost the bet! I lost to a midget!"

Said midget was currently slicing down another of her attackers. "There's no end to them," she muttered in frustration. She attempted to cut a striking root but her knife only broke against it.

Berry had to retreat. Her body couldn't keep up with the pace for too much longer. If she made it to town or the shrine she might be safe for a while.

Berry began running away from the battle only to feel the roots grab at her ankles. "Oh for the love love of god!"

More roots sprang up rapping Berry tightly till she could not move. Berry began letting out a stream of curses that grew more intense when she heard a whistle from an all too familiar voice.

"My, oh my, if I didn't know better and if you were actually even somewhat appealing to look at I'd think I was watching a hentai." Mephisto said sitting comfortably in a chair while sipping a drink of tea.

"You jerk! How long have you been there?" Berry yelled as she continued her struggle to get out.

"About when did you start fighting?" Mephisto said with his usual smirk.

"So you were here the whole time!" she yelled out in furry. "Why didn't you help?"

"If I remember correctly you said something that gave the impression that you did not want the help from a 'homosexual pedophiliac clown' such as myself. You also stated that you were quite capable of taking care of yourself." Mephisto said as he took a sip of his tea in the smuggest but nonchalant manner possible.

"When I get out of here you are so screwed!" Berry hissed.

"Really how am I screwed? Vertically? Horizontally? Perhaps perpendicularly?" Mephisto said innocently. "Also where exactly am I screwed? The neck? I hope not that would make my life somewhat difficult especially if I am screwed to a wall."

"Why must you be so irritating," Berry hissed wriggling more in her binds.

"Why must you be so stupid?" Mephisto replied in mocking tone. Berry could not take any more of the teasing or blood loss. She bit down again in hopes it might irritate the root enough for her to escape again only the root had learned from the last encounter and rapped itself around her mouth.

"What no response. Then do you acknowledge your stupidity?" Mephisto said as Berry glared and let out a muffled yell. "For someone who doesn't need help you seem to be in a fair amount of trouble. If you would apologize I might be willing to help out." Mephisto then removed the root wrapped around Berry's mouth.

"Help me you homosexual ass pedophiliac clown!" Berry yelled out instantly.

"Not the apology I was looking for let's try again only this time you will refrain from using the words ass, pedophiliac, and clown." Mephisto said with a tsk. "I don't believe I am a pedophiliac clown homosexual or otherwise."

"I'm. Sorry. Now. Help. Me. You. Homosexual. Jerk!" Berry said through gritted teeth.

"That will do," Mephisto stepped off his chair and pulled Berry free effortlessly. Berry huffed a bit before pulling her hand out of Mephisto's grasp.

"Thanks I guess," Berry muttered a bit and suddenly found that the world was spinning. "You know what I think I would prefer dying of blood loss next to fainting on your floating chair."

Mephisto looked at the nearly unconscious girl and smirked. "Why? I thought you wanted to live?"

"Because- now- I am never going to live this down." Berry huffed uneasily as her vision slowly clouded.

"Those flames," Krei started as she stared at the fire burning on Rin's skin that burned a root that had attacked them. Rin gulped almost expecting a negative response from her, but the Krei finished with, "there so pretty. I want flames like that."

Rin deadpanned at the statement. Not just because she had called the flames pretty but because she seemed unaware that these flames were that of Satan. Normally, people looked at him in fear or in the case of a few demons they would start bowing at his feet.

Maybe Krei didn't know that he was Satan's son. Maybe if he never told her then she would never be afraid of him. He didn't want her to be afraid of him. He didn't want anyone to be afraid of him. So Rin silently prayed to god that Krei would be the one possible person oblivious to what he was for a while longer.

"Brother behind you," Yukio shouted as he reloaded his gun and fired off at an oncoming root. Rin turned quickly and slammed his sword against the root batting it off.

"Krei stay behind me," Rin said as pulled Krei closer towards him. "I'm going to try and burn the tree."Rin focused his fire towards the tree only to watch as it was blocked by the sudden appearance of large Japanese Rowan tree branches that remained unharmed.

In the midst of fighting the trio found themselves tiring as they batted away oncoming roots.

"There's no end to them," huffed a tired Shima.

"How do you kill something like this?" huffed Konekomaru now pressing his back up against Bon's for protection.

Bon surveyed the scene and noticed something important. "Shiemi's gone!"

The other two's eyes widened at that realization. Shiemi had tried to kill Bon but that not limit her attacks to just them.

"We have to split up and protect the people in the town." Bon ordered as he fended off another root. The rest nodded and ran off into the village to help anyone that they could.

"Rin, how could you do such a thing?" the sweet voice of Shiemi said. "The Jubokko is a sacred tree. You've hurt it and I won't forgive you for that."

"Shiemi what the hell is wrong with you?" Rin yelled as launched his flames onto the inflammable wood.

"I am guarding this sacred tree. The blood it collects goes towards a greater cause. So I cannot allow it to die." Shiemi said her eyes containing a look that spoke of knowledge far greater than her.

More roots bolted towards the two mixed branches of rowan from her familiar. Rin burnt the roots to ashes, but the branches still continued on. Krei gripped tightly onto a branch shattering it before it could harm Rin.

"Why won't these branches burn?" Rin said in frustration while breaking off a hurtling branch.

"It must be a fire retarded wood," Yukio said firing at the rowan branches.

"Then what do we do?" Krei asked nervously as she batted off a branch that instead looped around slamming her in the stomach. She grit her teeth and grabbed the branch snapping it in two.

"We need to tear the paper with the summoning circle on it." Yukio said with a gasp as a large branch hit him from behind. Rin fled from Krei's side immediately to help his brother, dodging obstacles the whole way.

Krei looked closer at Shiemi and saw the paper clutched tightly in her hand. If Berry was here then she could just grab the paper out her hands or something. What could Krei do? She was awkward, clumsy, and afraid. She'd never once actually fought anyone. She was nothing but luggage right now.

"Okay, demon trees understandable. Shiemi being possessed is kind of predictable. But, why, the hell, are there zombies with kitchen knives chasing me!" Shima said as he ran through the town being followed by the group of shriveled people who were at one point chasing Berry. "What's next? God, if you are listening to this please don't answer that." Shima said with a huff as made a sharp turn around a house. Luckily, for the town most the houses were a fair distance from each other so likely no one would be injured. He cursed his luck for being in this situation. If there was a chance the person possessed was still alive he couldn't risk injuring them. Shima also lacked knowledge of the death verse for the Jubokko which meant he couldn't use aria.

As a knife swept in front of him Shima barely had time to duck under the blade. He then took to beating the zombie's arm with his staff. His friends couldn't be doing much better than he was.

Krei stared at her fist in frustration. The problem was that piece of paper. That small paper was the source of the struggle. If she tore it then the others could dispose of the real threat. Krei ran forward at full force into the fray of branches toward Shiemi. She could feel the dampness of her feet as they touched the areas where the blood on the ground pooled heavily seeping into her shoes making them heavier.

The branches collided with her pushing her back, but she blocked them holding her arms crossed over her face and pushed through towards Shiemi. She had almost reached Shiemi when suddenly something slammed into her throwing her against the trunk of the Jubokko. Krei felt her vision cloud for a minute as she lay against the tree.

Krei heard someone call her mind though to fuzzy to understand who it was. She looked down at the crimson liquid dripping down her hand slowly. She barely noticed the roots wrapping her and attempting to break her skin or the shouting that came from the others. Would the demon in her actually be able to do something? Probably. She lifted a hand to the simple string, which kept her demonic nature in check and tore it.

As Mephisto watched the scene above take place he took another sip of tea and looked at the lump currently lying unconscious in his lap. He mused a bit as he looked at Berry's face.

She was definitely not worth this treatment... but she could be. Berry's breath was still uneven and her skin was cold. You'd think she would have healed by now.

Curiosity got the better of him and he removed the coat Berry wore and saw something on the center of her back. It was a seal that had been seared into her. This was what kept her from healing like she should. Mephisto placed a hand above the seal and flicked away a line leaving the seal still there, but now completely useless.

Mephisto sat her upright and put her tattered coat back on her shoulders. The breathing started to even out and color returned her pale face. She would probably be awake in a minute and then be loud and annoying as always.

Turning back to the scene below Mephisto watched with a dark grin.

Krei's eyes snapped open and adrenaline surged through her body. She immediately tore at the offending roots that had grabbed onto her and tore them like they were paper mache. She batted away the oncoming attacks and started tearing the tree demon apart. She pulled the beast from out of the ground and threw it a few feet in front of her. Then Krei began beating her fist into the demon making sure to destroy the life in it. Even when Shiemi's attacks began to dig into her flesh she didn't mind she just batted them away and continued to be stained in red.

Yukio took his opportunity to grab and detain Shiemi and tore the paper in hand Shiemi seemed to be momentarily broken from her spell. "Miss Zi you can stop now." Yukio said to Krei who was still tearing at the demon that was desperately trying to fight back.

It was then that Berry woke up on the ground and saw Krei attacking the Jubokko. Immediately, Berry scrambled to her feet and ran towards her cousin. "Krei? Krei, where's your pendant?" she asked but her cousin didn't seem to hear her. She looked on the ground and saw the ivory pendant under the puddle of blood Berry picked it up and approached Krei. "Hey, one of you hold Krei down a moment."

Rin understood what Berry was doing and held Krei by the arms despite the struggling that Krei caused. Berry retried the string and placed it back on Krei's neck. The adrenaline and strength in Krei fizzled out and she collapsed unconscious. Rin looked at the remains of the Jubokko still squirming on the ground and burned it to ashes. Now all that was left of the monster was the blood it had accumulated and ash.

The zombies had stopped moving with the death of their master and all of the exwires and exorcists returned ragged and exhausted back to the temple after confirming the people of the town were all fine. Krei was still unconscious and being carried in Rin's arms (because none of the other boys wanted to risk holding her in the event she started thrashing about like a maniac) the whole way back.

Along the way Bon asked a question that was likely on the others minds but no one wanted to be the one to say. "Where's Izumo?" The group of friends looked at each other awkwardly.

The answer to where Izumo had gone became clear when they reached the temple.

"Where were you guys?" Izumo called a popsicle in her hand. "And why are you covered in blood?"

"You were here the whole time! You were here the whole time! Perfectly safe this whole time!" Shima yelled angrily. "I got chased by zombies! Zombies with wood and bugs in them and you were just sitting up in the temple."

"Exuse me? Safe? Mr. Ryuga went off the deep end and tried to knife me to death. I had to tie him to keep him from hurting me." Izumo yelled back.

"Zombies tops crazy people." was all Shima said.

After a explanation from everyone's side of the story Yukio said he needed someone to help with cleaning up a still blood soaked Krei.

Shiemi normally would be the one responsible, but she like Krei was out cold yet unharmed.

Yukio and Berry took Krei to the infirmary and started washing off the blood not on her clothes.

"She's fine for the most part. She's got a deep stomach wound that'll probably be fine in hour or two." Yukio said as he looked at Berry's abnormal dismal face. "Can you tell me what happened Ichigo-san?"

Berry let a large sigh at the use of her name. "Krei took her seal off so she killed the nearest perceived threat. She probably would have ate its heart too if we let her."

"I see. Please keep her in check from now on."

"Understood."

The group all sat on a bus heading back home. Berry in the farthest part from Mephisto, pouted in her cactus costume since it was the only clothing she had since her other outfit had been torn. She looked at Shima and glared sharply with all the poison she could muster.

"You owe me fifty bucks and the latest volume of Blue Exorcist, bitch." Berry said.

And the clamoring bus drove off carrying them back to the only thing that Berry could at the moment call home. All the while Krei and Shiemi were still left dreaming of things that probably would just stay dreams. And the town they left would return to being peaceful and calm like nothing had come or gone.

Or would it?

Mephisto simply grinned the way he always did as more and more pieces fell into place. This would all be entertaining to watch.

**Lamoon: At last we reach the end of the chapter **

**Moose: Yes. Now we can gloriously redeem our shamefulness in the next chapter. *Rides off into the sunset of shame redemption***


End file.
